My buddy and I were in the gallery waiting for AC/DC to take the stage. When the big moment came we were hit with an absolute blast bomb of sound. Angus and the lads were SO loud that our stomachs were vibrating. The gig was great as you might expect, but at the same time we were always aware that this was actually painful to the ears. Afterwards I was partially deaf for several days.
Very loud concerts were de rigueur back in the day. No consideration was given to sound level risks and some bands took pride in having the biggest stack of speakers. So I also experienced similar discomfort at all the gigs I attended – Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kiss, the Who etc. I was in London for a few years so I went to loads of them. But the loudest of all was AC/DC in Belfast.
At home we had our own “stack”. A big amplifier and big speakers so naturally everything was playing at very high volumes.
Fast forward to 2025 and I have had hearing problems now for several years. One of the reasons I retired early was that I was unable to function properly in a job that required constant interaction with other people. Asking people to repeat themselves three times was getting to be too embarrassing. I have a couple of hearing aids which help a bit but in some situations they are useless. Meetings in large rooms are a nightmare. Social gatherings are very difficult. You have to have experienced hearing loss to know just how isolating and depressing it can be. People are talking around you. You can hear the sound but just aren’t picking up the frequencies that make it intelligible. So you give up and withdraw from the general conversation.
People begin to think that you are odd.
I don’t know how much of my hearing loss can be put down to absurdly high sound volume in my younger days. However I have friends who are older than me with better hearing. They were never loud music fans.
When I observe younger generations constantly wearing earbuds and listening at volumes that even slighty deaf old me can pick up, I do wonder if there will be a deafness epidemic in the near future. Even my loud music generation gave it a rest when out of the house. Now the loud noise is ubiquitous for some young people.
This is a guest slot to give a platform for new writers either as a one off, or a prelude to becoming part of the regular Slugger team.
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